May 31, 2005

Went to my friend's baby shower and we all had a great time. It was held at a restaurant. Her parents were so proud. They are so chuffed that they are going to be grandparents. We teased her dad because he was wearing a pair of blue sues shoes. When his mom saw his shoes she said, "Oh, look at him. Go on, with your blue sued shoes!" and everybody started laughing. I called him Elvis (for you musically challenged people on the site, "Blue Suede Shoes" was one of Elvis' biggest hits). They asked me to take pics of the shower for posterity and I did.

My friend's grandmother called me a whiz, however it sure didn't help me win any of the baby shower games. My mom, however, tied with another lady for first prize in one of the games, which was guessing the contents of the baby food jars that had their labels removed.

They brought the jars around the room and you had to guess what was in them. I only got 2 of the 9 right. My mom got 5 of 9, almost got 6 of 9, but changed an answer at the last minute when she'd been right in the first place. I was trumped by experience - that and it all looked like mush to me. No wonder babies cry a lot - just kidding.

I tried going high tech by reading the serial numbers on the bottom of the jars for some type of abbreviation - sometimes manufacturers abbreviate the product title in the serial number. You know, something like gb123 short for green beans, but it didn't work, as it was all numbers and my mom laughed at me for it.

My mom joked that it was 28 years ago she had to do that stuff (I'm her first and only child) but she still remembers. Then when the gift opening started and she saw all the baby stuff, she started reminiscing and telling me about what she bought when I was born. She sent for clothes and baby stuff from Mother Care in England. I hadn't known that before. Her mom used to order their clothes from English catalogs as well. That I knew about. So, it's been a family tradition.

I should have known that though regarding me, as a lot of my childhood memories are dominated by British things. When I was four, when Charles and Di got marred, my aunt sent a lot of souvenir stuff (mugs, plates, trays, tea cloths ect..). On the morning of the wedding my mom woke me up very early in the morning to watch it with her. My mom often shopped from British catalogues and my aunt, her sister, would send stuff from England all the time. And there was a constant stream of British programming. So, it's something I grew up with and enjoy.

To some it might seem unusual, especially for a black girl, but I guess it's what you are raised with. It's who you are and it's apart of you for as long as you live.

My grandmother was raised with that British influence, so my mom in turn raised me with that as well. I think it's great. I know about Jamaican stuff, I know about British stuff and I know about American stuff. It's been a great cultural education.

I speak with an American accent, as this is where I was raised, but ever so often I lapse into a Jamaican or British term by accident. Like the other day I said "I'm gonna go watch the shipping news." At the baby shower I accidentally called diapers a "nappies," which is the British and Jamaican word for a diapers. I've done that with British friends as well using the word "diaper" and they were like, what's that? LOL

However, they know I'm not being pretentious, it's apart of being multi-cultural. My Spanish friends do that sometimes as well - they'll say entire sentences in English, but one word they'll forget and say it in Spanish. It's a common occurrence when you come from more than one culture.

It happens with Southerners as well. When southerners move to places up north like New York or to the west coast, their accents usually change after a while, but every now and then, they'll slip into a southern drawl unaware. I think it's cute.

I love Miami to bits, but I always say that though we are in the South, we're not southern. It wasn't until we started going to Georgia for family vacations that I actually heard real southern accents and saw things like "catfish" on a menu. There are no farms in Miami and no southern accents. Mostly a Miami type accent (all Miami rappers have it LOL), New York accents, Caribbean and Spanish accents.

You gotta love New York accents. Only a New Yorker can pluralize a singular word and keep it singular or pluralize an already plural word and make it work:

"Would all of yous get in the car..."
"so I says to the guy..."
"those are my peoples."

Thank you for accompanying me on my culture ramble...

The Artist Of The Week

The artist of the week is the Soul Seekers. They've just released their self-titled CD. Here's a great review of their album along with song clips http://www.gospelflava.com/reviews/soulseekers.html